By Ashley Hefner, Photographer and Staff Writer and Emily Goldberg, Editor-in-Chief
It was the middle of midterms, and I (Emily) walked into my English class to a room full of girls screaming. They were talking about another class’s psychology test. While not all of them were in the class, they were all passionate about what had transpired. Girls had cheated on the test, and the teacher had been informed.
“How could a student betray their friends like that?” they all shouted. “We can’t trust anyone anymore.”
They spoke about the incident as if the person who informed the teacher of the cheating had committed treason. In the midst of their frenzy, an obvious fact seemed to have slipped their minds: cheating is a violation of the Torah.
Cheating is an incident we see all too often in the halls of Yeshiva University; halls that are decorated to the brim with the five core Torah values. And everybody knows it too. Students openly talk about their cheating, even in front of professors, who should take those kinds of statements seriously. Yet, too often we see them brushed over and ignored, allowing ourselves to become desensitized to it.
In a university founded on the basis of Torah values, these incidents are contradictory to the principles we claim to hold dear.
Cheating is the exact opposite of what students come to college for. We are here to learn, think critically and challenge ourselves in order to become the ‘leaders of tomorrow.’ When cheating occurs, learning is forgone. The only thing you achieve by cheating in school is robbing yourself of attaining skills and knowledge which will be used towards your future career.
When your time at YU comes to a close, do you want to walk out those doors with only a piece of paper? Not everybody has the privilege of attending college, especially YU, for many different reasons. Specifically on the Beren campus, as a women’s college, we should utilize and take advantage of the opportunity we have to get an education that millions of women across the globe and throughout history would dream of having.
Instead, we betray them, and we cheat our way through.
The Torah states, “You shall not falsify measures of length, weight or capacity.” Rav Moshe Feinstein elaborates on this verse as well as another source in Choshen Mishpat and emphasizes that cheating on tests in college, even in secular classes, is prohibited according to the Torah and violates geneivat da’at, which translates literally to “stealing knowledge.” Not only does one deceive their teachers when cheating on tests, they are also robbing their future employers, who will hire them based on grades that inaccurately display their skill set. Therefore, the money that they earn through this job, according to Rav Feinstein, is stolen as well. All to get an A.
A letter sent to students by Dr. Rebecca Cypess, Dean of Stern College and Yeshiva College, Prof. Shoshana Schechter, Associate Dean for Torah and Spiritual Life and Dr. Noam Wasserman, Dean of Sy Syms School of Business, addressed the topic of cheating in the Torah as finals season approaches.
The letter was signed by Rav Herschel Schachter shlit”a, Rosh Yeshiva of YU. “What value will a good grade be if it was not earned with integrity, if it is not really yours?” the letter stated. “Putting in the time and effort will position you to be “Omed B’nisayon,” – to withstand the temptations tha[t] many students face under the pressure of finals to submit work that was not done honestly and with integrity, chas v’shalom.”
The letter continued, “This period not only grows study and work skills that can be applied to the study of Torah but will grow you as people of substance and of integrity and you in turn will contribute to the culture of ‘emet (truth)’ that is the hallmark of every authentic beis medrash.”
But here at YU, where has our “emet” gone?
Cheating in its very essence violates the Torah and constitutes a lack of awareness of the impact one’s actions have on others. There are students at YU who work incredibly hard to earn an A in an honorable way, while there are others who take the easy road and cheat to get higher marks which they do not deserve. By participating in unethical behavior to do well in a class, one puts themselves on the same level as those who are playing a fair game. In the future, the person who received the grade in a dishonest way may get opportunities they haven’t earned, putting those who deserved high marks at a disadvantage when applying to graduate schools and in their future careers.
The faculty and administration at YU is not oblivious to the fact that there is cheating crawling throughout its halls. In fact, this past year, students approached the administration and have begun working with them on ways to mend academic honesty at YU. While we appreciate steps like this, it is important to be aware that they are only the beginning.
Both of us were in a class where, during the test, the teacher was on their phone throughout the entire midterm, during which half the class ‘went to the bathroom.’ What were they actually doing? You already know the answer.
When teachers are giving tests, they have to be more aware and take active precautions to prevent cheating before it transpires. Students should not be allowed to leave classes during tests and should always be required to put their belongings on the side of the room so papers ‘accidently’ strewn on the floor don’t display the answers.
Steps like this are simple but make a huge difference. All too often we have heard of teachers who knew their class cheated on tests but did nothing about it because they just don’t want to put in the effort to care.
But at YU, shouldn’t we care about such violations of the Torah?
When students cheat, not only are they hurting themselves, they also damage YU’s reputation as both an academic institution and a yeshiva founded on Torah values. Cheating ultimately invalidates the university’s degrees, and damages public perception of our beloved school.
Not punishing students for cheating also reinforces their unethical behavior, even rewarding it with an A. I (Ashley) have even been told by a faculty member that, “If everyone else is cheating, then you should do it too.” No, I should definitely not partake in this behaviour. It is ridiculous that faculty, who should be practicing and instilling Torah values onto students, openly told me to violate Torah laws instead.
God did not grant us the unique opportunity of life so that we could cheat our way out of it. He placed us on this earth in order to make a difference and fulfill our unique purposes in the world. Doing so is going to require hard work and learning. If we cheat our way through life, we display a complete lack of gratitude towards all that God has given us and are practically throwing His opportunity for us to grow and serve Him back at Him.
And what a waste that would be.
Photo Caption: The five core Torah values displayed on the Beren Campus
Photo Credit: Emily Goldberg / the YU Observer